Worker Injured During Credit Union Robbery

MANCHESTER — An employee was slightly injured Friday when she was pushed down during an armed robbery at a credit union.

At about 3:20 p.m., three masked men came into the Community Healthcare Credit Union Inc. at 48 Haynes St., across from Manchester Memorial Hospital. Two of them had guns, police said.

They told everyone in the office -- which included a few customers -- to get down. One stayed near the entrance while two vaulted the counter and shoved an employee, causing her to hit her head on the counter, said Lt. Joseph San Antonio. She was checked at the hospital and was back at work at 6:45 p.m., he said.

The robbers filled a sack with cash, but the dye packs inside exploded, staining the contents. They left the sack outside the credit union and ran away, San Antonio said.

Kameldin Addy of Hartford saw them running toward the back of the building as he approached the credit union. He said he didn't realize they were robbers; the frigid temperatures have many people covering their faces.

``I was just thinking,'' Addy said, ``Damn. Why would people come out of the bank running?''

San Antonio said police don't know if the robbery is connected to one at the credit union in June or to two holdups at nearby stores this week.

At about 9:15 a.m. June 27, two men wearing what appeared to be biohazard suits robbed the credit union of what police described as ``a large sum of money.'' Three employees were ordered to the floor, and one of two customers was knocked down but not injured.

Friday's armed robbery also was the third this week at a business on or near Main Street. The three robberies were within a mile of each other. Each involved more than one masked man and at least one gun. All three had an element of violence.

At about 3:20 a.m. Sunday, three men robbed the 7-Eleven convenience store at 253 Main St. Two of them, armed with guns, jumped the counter. They took the female clerk into the back office and put a gun to her head, took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled.

At about 2:15 a.m. Thursday, two armed men wearing ski masks robbed the 7-Eleven store at 706 Main St. The robbers, dressed in dark clothes, forced two customers and a clerk into a back room and took $400 to $500, police said.

Within 45 minutes of Thursday's robbery, two masked men had robbed the 7-Eleven at 298 Main St. in East Hartford. A shot was fired when a convenience store clerk wrestled with one of the gunmen. No one was hurt.

All three of those alleged to have committed the robbery Friday had their hoods tightly drawn around their faces, San Antonio said. One wore a Halloween mask that depicted a devil-type face, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the detective bureau at 860-645-5510 and ask for Det. Paul Lombardo, the lead investigator.